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Tag: forbes

  • FBI & DOJ Investigating ByteDance & TikTok’s Surveillance of Journalists

    FBI & DOJ Investigating ByteDance & TikTok’s Surveillance of Journalists

    As if TikTok’s problems couldn’t get any worse, the FBI and DOJ are investigating its parent company for surveilling Forbes journalists.

    TikTok is owned by China-based ByteDance. The company is under pressure around the globe as one jurisdiction after another bans TikTok from government devices over privacy concerns.

    One of the most egregious privacy and security violations involved ByteDance’s admission that it used TikTok to surveil Forbes journalists, tracking their locations. The admission has sparked an investigation by the FBI and DOJ, according to Forbes:

    According to a source in position to know, the DOJ Criminal Division, Fraud Section, working alongside the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding efforts by its employees to access U.S. journalists’ location information or other private user data using the TikTok app. According to two sources, the FBI has been conducting interviews related to the surveillance. ByteDance’s use of the app to surveil U.S. citizens was first reported by Forbes in October, and confirmed by an internal company investigation in December.

    At the time of the admission, ByteDance executives expressed their disapproval, with the executive responsible for the actions, Chris Lepitak, being fired. His direct superior who reported to the CEO, Song Ye, also resigned.

    “I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation… and I’m sure you feel the same,” CEO Rubo Liang wrote in an internal email shared with Forbes at the time. “The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals. … I believe this situation will serve as a lesson to us all.”

    “It is standard practice for companies to have an internal audit group authorized to investigate code of conduct violations,” TikTok General Counsel Erich Andersen wrote in a second email. “However, in this case individuals misused their authority to obtain access to TikTok user data.”

    ByteDance told Forbes it would cooperate with any official investigation:

    “We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance. Our internal investigation is still ongoing, and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us,” said ByteDance spokesperson Jennifer Banks. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

    The news comes at a time when TikTok is facing its most daunting challenges. In addition to being banned from government devices in the US, EU, UK, and Canada, the Biden administration has told ByteDance that TikTok will face a nationwide ban unless the company divests from TikTok.

  • Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Pivots Away From Bezos’ Number One Priority

    Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Pivots Away From Bezos’ Number One Priority

    Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is already making his mark on the company, including by focusing less on Jeff Bezos’ top priority.

    Jeff Bezos founded and led Amazon from a tiny startup to one of the biggest, most valuable companies in the world. Throughout that journey, his top priority was always the customer. In fact, according to Forbes’ Bill Murphy, Jr., in the 23 shareholder letters Bezos wrote, the word “customer” appears 443 times, more than any other keyword he normally talked about. In contrast, “Amazon” only appears 340 times.

    There’s no doubt that Bezos’ almost obsessive focus on the customer is much of the reason Amazon has been the success it has. Whatever other missteps the company has taken along its journey, whatever other issues it may have, Amazon became the behemoth it is by delivering what the customer wants at a price they want it.

    Interestingly, at the company’s most recent quarterly call, Jassy appeared to be shifting focus away from the customer somewhat. As Murphy writes, Jassy outlined his priorities as follows:

    1. “[P]robably the No. 1 priority that I spen[d] time with the team on is reducing our cost to serve in our operations network …”
    2. “The second thing, priority-wise, I would talk about is just speed. We believe they’re continuing to get products to customers faster, makes customers happier, and they also converted a higher rate when they can see promises of deliveries that are faster …”
    3. “I think pricing being sharp is always important. But particularly in this type of uncertain economy, where customers are very conscious about how much they’re spending … we’ll continue to work really hard on being sharp on pricing … “
    4. “And then just the customer experience improvements that we’re working all the time … we will continue to work very hard on those customer experiences, and we have a lot more planned …”

    Putting aside that Jassy has four priorities — which Murphy argues is broad enough to count as not having any real priorities — Jassy lists the “customer experience” as the fourth and last priority.

    It is true that Jassy mentions ‘making customers happier’ in his second priority, but that’s not the focus of Number Two. The focus is having faster logistics…which will result in the customers being happier.

    While Jassy is clearly concerned with happy customers, it appears he does not have the same focus on that metric as Bezos did. Whether this works for Amazon, or undermines what has made the company great, remains to be seen.

  • Sergey Brin Is Coding at Google Again in ‘Code Red’ AI Effort

    Sergey Brin Is Coding at Google Again in ‘Code Red’ AI Effort

    After years of absence, Sergey Brin is once again back at Google and has just submitted his first code request.

    Google is scrambling to come up with an answer to ChatGPT and other conversational AI tech, which many see as an existential threat to the company’s search business. CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red,” reorganizing labor in an effort to come up with an answer. The company also called back Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help brainstorm and come up with solutions.

    According to Forbes, it appears Brin may be getting comfortable in his old digs and has submitted his first code request since being back. The request was just a two line change to have his username added to a configuration file.

    It appears employees are eager to work with Brin, with Forbes’ source saying several dozen engineers approved the request, including some from outside the team.

  • TikTok Owner ByteDance Admits to Surveiling Journalists

    TikTok Owner ByteDance Admits to Surveiling Journalists

    Despite initial claims to the contrary, ByteDance has admitted to using TikTok to monitor Forbes journalists, including tracking their locations.

    Forbes broke a story in October that accused TikTok and ByteDance of planning to surveil specific Americans using the TikTok app. The two companies vehemently denied the allegations, even saying, “Forbes’ reporting about TikTok continues to lack both rigor and journalistic integrity.”

    As it turns out, however, Forbes was right, and ByteDance has admitted the outlet’s report was correct. ByteDance used TikTok to track multiple Forbes journalists in an effort to track down leaks that served as the basis of multiple stories about the company’s close ties to China.

    The surveillance even included using TikTok to track the journalists’ IP addresses and user data in an effort to determine if they had been in the vicinity of any ByteDance employees.

    ByteDance has lost a number of executives responsible for the surveillance, including Chris Lepitak, its chief internal auditor and the man who led the surveillance team. Song Ye, the executive Lepitak reported to and who reported directly to CEO Rubo Liang, has resigned.

    “I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation… and I’m sure you feel the same,” Liang wrote in an internal email shared with Forbes. “The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals. … I believe this situation will serve as a lesson to us all.”

    “It is standard practice for companies to have an internal audit group authorized to investigate code of conduct violations,” TikTok General Counsel Erich Andersen wrote in a second email. “However, in this case individuals misused their authority to obtain access to TikTok user data.”

    Forbes minced no words in calling out ByteDance’s actions as an assault on a free press.

    “This is a direct assault on the idea of a free press and its critical role in a functioning democracy,” says Randall Lane, the chief content officer of Forbes. “We await a direct response from ByteDance, as this raises fundamental questions about what they are doing with the information they compile from TikTok users.”

    For its part, TikTok is clearly trying to distance itself from the situation and blame the whole fiasco.

    “The misconduct of certain individuals, who are no longer employed at ByteDance, was an egregious misuse of their authority to obtain access to user data,” said TikTok spokesperson Hilary McQuaid. “This misbehavior is unacceptable, and not in line with our efforts across TikTok to earn the trust of our users.”

    TikTok is under well-deserved fire, with multiple states banning the app from state-owned devices and Congress passing a bill that would ban it from government devices. This latest report is only going to add fuel to the fire, and will likely result in renewed calls for an all-out ban on the app.

  • 2022 Layoffs Top 125,000

    2022 Layoffs Top 125,000

    As the new year approaches, the latest numbers indicate that a whopping 125,000 employees have been laid off in 2022.

    Many companies and industries were flying high during the pandemic, as remote and hybrid work options fueled big spending on computers, tablets, cloud computing, and more. Meanwhile, government stimulus helped buoy spending among consumers. As things have returned to normal, however, fears of a recession have mounted and led to mass layoffs.

    According to Forbes, the total number of layoffs for 2022 has now topped 125,000, with more than 60,000 of them being let go since the beginning of November. Tech companies have led the charge, with Meta, Amazon, and HP among those laying off the most workers. In total, some 90,000 workers have been laid off in the industry this year.

    As economists warn of a recession, the layoff numbers are certainly lending weight to those concerns.

  • Meta Sued for Fanning Ethiopian Civil War and Inciting Violence

    Meta Sued for Fanning Ethiopian Civil War and Inciting Violence

    Meta is facing an all-new $2 billion lawsuit, one for allegedly fanning the flames of the Ethiopian civil war and inciting violence in the country.

    Meta, formerly Facebook, has long been criticized for the algorithms it uses to push and promote content, claiming it harms users by promoting harmful content that feeds misinformation and fans violence. At least one group is going all-out to hold the company responsible, filing a $2 billion lawsuit, according to Forbes.

    One of the major factors was the death of Professor Meareg Amare Abrha, who was shot and killed after he was named in Facebook posts and accused of stealing equipment from Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar University. Some of the posts called for the professor’s death and disclosed the location of his neighborhood. To make matters worse, the professor’s son says some of the hateful posts were still visible on Facebook as recently as a week ago.

    As a result of the situation, human rights group Foxglove has joined the fight and is launching a lawsuit in an effort to force Facebook to change its algorithm.

    “The Professor’s tragedy, sadly, is one of thousands. Across the world, we’ve seen how Facebook’s design has fanned the flames of hatred and violence. We’ve seen it in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India and even in the US, where viral incitement helped spur the January 6 Capitol riots,” says Foxglove in a statement.

    “Today we are proud to be supporting the launch of a major new case demanding fundamental change to Facebook’s algorithm, prioritising the safety of the 500 million people who live in Eastern and Southern Africa over Mark Zuckerberg’s profits.”

    The case could have profound implications for Meta’s business and could force the company to make changes it has so far resisted making.

  • PSA: Update Windows Immediately to Fix Zero-Day vulnerabilities

    PSA: Update Windows Immediately to Fix Zero-Day vulnerabilities

    The latest Microsoft Patch Tuesday includes fixes for several zero-day vulnerabilities, and users should update immediately.

    Zero-day vulnerabilities are among the most dangerous. By definition, a zero-day is a vulnerability that has been recently discovered, with no patches or mitigation efforts in place. As a result, hackers can exploit the vulnerability at will.

    Microsoft’s latest set of patches includes fixes for several of those vulnerabilities, including six that are already being actively exploited in the wild. What’s more, according to Forbes, two of the vulnerabilities were known for at least two months before this patch became available.

    “It took Microsoft more than two months to provide the patch, even though the company admitted that ProxyNotShell actively exploited the vulnerabilities in targeted attacks against at least 10 large organizations,” Mike Walters, vice president of vulnerability and threat research at Action1, told the outlet. “It is good news that an official patch is available now,” Walters added, saying that “installing it promptly is highly advisable.”

    With fixes for 68 total vulnerabilities, 11 of them critical, users should immediately update.

    More information can be found on the Microsoft Security Update Guide.

  • TikTok Accused of Planning to Surveil Americans, Denies Accusations

    TikTok Accused of Planning to Surveil Americans, Denies Accusations

    Another month, another TikTok scandal as the company is facing some of its most damning privacy allegations yet.

    TikTok has a long history of privacy scandals. The company has been accused of potential keylogging, sending job applicant personal data to China, refusing to keep American user data out of China, violating child privacy, and much more.

    The latest report from Forbes, however, may contain some of the most damaging accusations yet, with the outlet saying that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, planned to use the social media app to surveil specific Americans. The effort was led by ByteDance’s Internal Audit and Risk Control department.

    The material reviewed by Forbes indicates that ByteDance’s Internal Audit team was planning to use this location information to surveil individual American citizens, not to target ads or any of these other purposes. Forbes is not disclosing the nature and purpose of the planned surveillance referenced in the materials in order to protect sources. TikTok and ByteDance did not answer questions about whether Internal Audit has specifically targeted any members of the U.S. government, activists, public figures or journalists.

    For its part, TikTok took to Twitter to deny the allegations.

    Interestingly, Forbes article never mentions GPS tracking, making this a likely attempt by TikTok to throw readers off the real issue.

    While TikTok may be denying Forbes’ report, the company has all but destroyed what little credibility it had left. This is the same company that testified to Congress that it had a dedicated US security team to handle American user data, only to be caught sending that data to China and then refusng to commit to keeping said data out of China.

    For our part, we tend to believe Forbes over TikTok. By now, it should surprise absolutely no one that this is a company that will seemingly push the boundaries as much as it can, get away with everything it can, and only acknowledge any issue in the face of overwhelming evidence. Anyone who believes their data is safe with TikTok is deluding themselves at their own peril.

  • Gates Foundation Likely to Shut Down in 25 Years

    Gates Foundation Likely to Shut Down in 25 Years

    Bill Gates has shared his thoughts on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, revealing it will likely shut down in 25 years.

    The Gates Foundation is “a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world.” Founded in 2000, the foundation is involved in addressing some of the biggest challenges facing mankind. The foundation has benefited greatly from Gates’ wealth, with Bill Gates recently donating $20 billion to it.

    Despite its stature in the philanthropic community, Gates sees the foundation shutting down in the next couple of decades.

    “The goal for the foundation is to run for another 25 years,” Gates said at the 2022 Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit.

    At the same time, Gates emphasized the foundation’s goals in the remaining time it has.

    “Try and bring infectious disease, or all of the diseases that make the world inequitable, to bring those largely to an end, either through eradication or getting them down to very low levels,” he added.

    By the time the Gates Foundation comes to an end, Bill Gates would be 91, and Melinda would be 83. It’s clear the two don’t want to trust the foundation’s future to someone else. Given how involved they have been in the foundation, it’s understandable they wouldn’t want to risk it going in a direction they would not have agreed with.

  • Napster Taps Former Roblox VP and Music Chief as CEO

    Napster Taps Former Roblox VP and Music Chief as CEO

    Napster has tapped former Roblox music chief for its new CEO as the company looks to reinvent itself and its brand.

    Napster sparked a revolution at the turn of the century, bringing online music sharing mainstream. The company was a major threat to the music industry and eventually shut down under the pressure. Hivemind Capital and Algorand purchased the new Napster, born out of what was the Rhapsody streaming service, in May 2022. The new company has been working to leverage the power of Web3 as it works to reinvent Napster.

    According to Forbes, the company has hired Jon Vlassopulos as CEO. Vlassopulos formerly served as Roblox VP and global head of music.

    “I’ve been musing about how antisocial and unexciting streaming services were, so when I was offered one to innovate it was too much to pass it up,” he told Forbes.

    “Simple things like profiles starting to become wallets for both artists and users almost overnight, without any fancy jargon,” he continued. “You log in and you see, ‘Oh I have a bunch of goodie bags in my profile.’ And based on 20 years of data we think we have a pretty good handle on what people might like and might not like.”

    Only time will tell if Napster can regain its former glory, but it appears the company is pulling out all the stops to achieve it.

  • Google Follows Microsoft in Restricting Business Travel

    Google Follows Microsoft in Restricting Business Travel

    Google is following Microsoft’s lead, restricting business travel for all but the most important circumstances.

    Microsoft began restricting business travel last month over economic concerns. Google is now following suit, according to a leaked email seen by The Information, via Forbes. The emails says the company is setting a “high bar” for travel, and such instances should only be for “business critical” trips.

    The email put the kibosh on social functions, team off-sites, and in-person meetings that could be handled via videoconferencing.

    As Forbes points out, the trend could spell more trouble for the travel industry, which is still coping with the aftermath of the pandemic. While recreational travel has rebounded to some extent, business travel has lagged behind.

    “Our largest corporates are the ones that are lagging — particularly banking, consulting and technology — who previously were among our top-tier travelers now are on the lower side,” Andrew Watterson, Southwest Airlines’ chief commercial officer, said in a July earnings call, according to Forbes.

    In addition to travel, Google’s stance could be a boon for remote work, especially with the company instructing employees to videoconference where possible. Like many companies, Google has been working to bring employees back to the office. If economic concerns continue to mount, however, remote work may experience a resurgence.

  • Russia Is Turning Off the Gas to Europe

    Russia Is Turning Off the Gas to Europe

    After months of sanctions, Russia says it is cutting off the gas to Europe in a move that could have serious repercussions.

    Europe relies heavily on Russia for its energy needs. In spite of that, the bloc has the international community in levying sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Russia is now blaming those sanctions for cutting off gas to Europe, saying they have led to maintenance issues of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, according to Forbes.

    Despite the pipeline closure, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said gas exports would resume if the sanctions were lifted, saying the sanction have “brought the situation to what we see now.”

    According to Forbes, Europe’s gas reserves currently sit at 81.55%. The bloc set a goal of having its reserves at 80% by November 1, putting it ever slow slightly ahead of its target. With Russia cutting off supplies, however, it’s unclear if Europe will need to tap into those reserves immediately, lowering them below the target threshold going into winter.

  • Walmart’s Inventory Woes Are the Latest Economic Warning Sign

    Walmart’s Inventory Woes Are the Latest Economic Warning Sign

    Walmart has an inventory problem as a result of an impending economic downturn and its impact on consumer spending.

    According to Forbes, executives outlined the issues the company is facing, including $1.5 billion in unwanted inventory.

    “If we could just wave a magic wand, we’d make it go away today,” said chief financial officer John David Rainey. “We’ve also cancelled billions of dollars in orders to help align inventory levels with expected demand.”

    Executives believe it may take a couple of quarters to clear the additional inventory, much of which falls in the sporting goods, electronics, home, and apparel categories. In addition, changing buying habits as a result of the economy are also making it difficult to predict how customers will spend their money.

    “We’ve seen more pronounced consumer shifts and trade-down activity” Rainey explained. “As an example, instead of deli meats at higher price points, customers are increasing purchases of hotdogs as well as canned tuna or chicken.”

    Rainey indicates the company is struggling with a far sharper return to pre-pandemic norms than many companies expected, as well as a massive increase in inflation.

    “As a backdrop, the shifts that we’ve seen in consumer behavior through the pandemic, shifting from in-store to online, along with big swings in the purchase of goods versus services. and then the reversion back to pre-pandemic norms has been sharp and difficult to predict. These trends have been exacerbated by inflationary pressure on the consumer that many of us have not experienced in our lifetime, the effect of which has recently changed consumption patterns in certain categories for us, notably general merchandise.”

    Overall, Walmart’s situation should serve as a further warning regarding the state of the economy.

  • Microsoft Buying Activision Blizzard, CEO Kotick Likely Leaving Soon After

    Microsoft Buying Activision Blizzard, CEO Kotick Likely Leaving Soon After

    Microsoft announced it is buying Activision Blizzard in a deal worth a whopping $68.7 billion.

    Activision Blizzard is responsible for some of the biggest, most successful game franchises in history, including Warcraft, Overwatch, Starcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. Microsoft sees the acquisition as a way for it to continue to cement its position in developing the metaverse, where in-person and virtual reality merge.

    “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

    At the same time, Forbes is reporting that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is likely leaving once the deal is completed. Kotick has been under fire for his role in Activision’s culture, and has been accused of knowing about sexual harassment and discrimination accusations, but not taking the necessary steps to address the problem.

    Given that Microsoft is working to establish itself as a safe work environment, it’s unlikely Kotick would have place within the company once the deal is finalized.

    According to NPR, Nadella alluded to the challenges involved in reining in Activision’s culture in a call with investors.

    “After the close, we will have significant work to do in order to continue to build a culture where everyone can do their best work,” Nadella said. 

    In the meantime, here’s to hoping Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard will lead to a Starcraft 3…

  • Do Better? Better.com CEO Apologizes for 900 Employee Zoom Layoff

    Do Better? Better.com CEO Apologizes for 900 Employee Zoom Layoff

    Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has learned firsthand how he can do better in the future: Don’t do a mass layoff of 900 employees in a Zoom meeting.

    Garg made headlines last week when he laid off 900 employees at once in a Zoom meeting, saying: “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group…Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately.”

    Needless to say, the complete and utter lack of finesse, the lack of respect for his employees, lack of people skills, not to mention lack of basic common sense, did not go over well with employees or the company’s other executives. In fact, CNET reports the company has experienced “mass resignations,” including its vice president of communications, head of PR and head of marketing.

    Garg has now written a letter (PDF) apologizing for his handling of the layoffs.

    I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week.

    I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better.

    I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you.

    I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”

    This isn’t Garg’s first issue, when it comes to employee management, that has come to light. Forbes obtained an email last November in which Garg slammed his own employees.

    “You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS and…DUMB DOLPHINS get caught in nets and eaten by sharks. SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME,” Garg wrote. 

    It’s clear Better.com’s CEO needs to do far better himself, but only time will tell if he actually will. In the meantime, Garg provided a case study of how not to handle a layoff.

  • Braintrust CEO: Fully Distributed Is the Future, Not Hybrid Work

    Hybrid workflows may be the talk of the day, but Braintrust CEO Adam Jackson says distributed work is the direction companies should be going.

    Companies around the world are embracing hybrid workflows. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, companies of all sizes and across industries sent their employees home to work remotely. Many companies saw measurable benefits from remote work, including reduced real estate costs, happier employees and improved quality of life.

    As a result of remote work’s success, many companies have decided to permanently embrace a hybrid workflow, giving employees the option of working remotely at least part of the week. According to Jackson, however, those measures don’t go far enough.

    Jackson makes his argument in an article for Forbes.

    Because going hybrid isn’t enough. It’s not enough to scale your teams quickly, and it’s not enough to get the best people working on the projects that matter most.

    If you want to lead your business into the future, then you need to start looking beyond today’s best strategies and to the strategies for the future. In a world where no one knows what the next six months will look like, think about the trends that will shape the next six years.

    Jackson goes on to highlight three benefits of a fully distributed workforce, including access to a larger talent pool, the opportunity to have a more specialized focus and accelerated innovation.

    While many companies are still struggling to come to terms with a hybrid workforce, Jackson’s argument should provide food for though for executives looking for new ways to be competitive over the next decade.

  • Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Group Disbanding RaaS Operation

    Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Group Disbanding RaaS Operation

    The group behind the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack appears to be shutting down its RaaS operation, thanks to increased law enforcement pressure.

    DarkSide secured its place in infamy when it successfully launched a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, devastating the gasoline supply on the East Coast. In response, President Biden signed an executive order on cybersecurity, with a focus on helping the US make the drastic changes necessary to keep pace with evolving threats.

    According to cybercrime intelligence firm Intel 471, the increased pressure from law enforcement is already having an impact. DarkSide has posted an announcement saying they have lost access to their blog, payment server and CDN. In addition, the money it made on ransomware was seized.

    DarkSide has said it will cease its Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) operations. The group also will issue decryptors to outstanding RaaS victims. In an interview with Forbes, Intel 471 CEO Mark Arena said he believes DarkSide will honor its promise.

    “I think they’re well established in the criminal underground and they’re not going to burn it for this,” Arena said. He also said he believed hacker groups would be far more careful about their targets moving forward. “People will definitely research their targets more so something like this doesn’t happen again… These guys want to get paid with as little fanfare as possible so they can carry on doing what they’re doing.”

    According to Intel 471, DarkSide isn’t the only group posting such an announcement. Multiple hacker groups are feeling the increased pressure and closing or significantly changing their operations.

  • Miami May Pay Employees With Bitcoin

    Miami May Pay Employees With Bitcoin

    Miami may be the first major city to pay its employees in bitcoin, if the mayor’s ambitious plan comes to fruition.

    Bitcoin is gaining wide acceptance beyond the tech industry. It has recently been used to pay part of NFL player Russell Okung’s salary, and even Elon Musk is saying the cryptocurrency is on the verge of widespread acceptance.

    Bitcoin may be getting another major boost, with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez working to make it an accepted method of paying city employees, according to Forbes. The move is part of a larger strategy to make Miami an appealing destination for tech companies, and is seen as a way to differentiate the city from competitors.

    Suarez is looking at three possible options for how the city could implement bitcoin in its economy:

    • The first would involve giving city employees the option to be paid in bitcoin.
    • The second would allow citizens to pay some local fees or taxes with bitcoin, or another cryptocurrency.
    • The most radical option would see the city invest some of its investment capital in bitcoin.

    Should any of these options move forward, it will be a huge step for bitcoin specifically, and the cryptocurrency market in general.

  • Carriers Go All-In On Mid-Band 5G

    Carriers Go All-In On Mid-Band 5G

    The FCC’s mid-band spectrum auction has concluded its initial phase, and the bidding reveals carriers are all-in on mid-band.

    Throughout much of the world, mid-band spectrum has been the cornerstone of 5G rollouts. In the US, however, the Big Three carriers have focused on low and high-band. The only exception is T-Mobile, which inherited a wealth of mid-band spectrum from its acquisition of Sprint, and immediately began deploying it.

    As Forbes’ Bob O’Donnell points out, all three carriers have spent big at the FCC auction, speaking volumes about their view of the 5G market. Verizon has spent approximately $30 billion, AT&T has spent $20 billion and T-Mobile has spent $10 billion.

    As O’Donnell points out, regardless of how much each carrier has been touting their low-band network for its coverage, or their high-band mmWave network for its speed, mid-band is clearly where it’s at. Mid-band is widely seen as the sweet spot for 5G, offering a good balance of coverage and speed. In fact, T-Mobile has even demonstrated speeds of 1 Gps using its current mid-band spectrum. At the same time, mid-band offers far better coverage than the couple of hundred meters that mmWave offers.

    Another benefit of US carriers rallying around mid-band is that it helps phone and cellphone radio makers consolidate the number of frequencies they have to support.

    Either way, the investment is good news for customers.

  • Russia Banning Cryptocurrencies

    Russia Banning Cryptocurrencies

    Cryptocurrencies may be gaining traction around the world, but they aren’t welcome in another major country, as Russia takes steps to ban them.

    According to Forbes, reporting on an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax, a Russian official said an upcoming digital assets bill will ban buying and selling cryptocurrency.

    “We believe there are big risks of legalizing the operations with the cryptocurrencies, from the standpoint of financial stability, money laundering prevention and consumer protection,” said Russia’s central bank head of legal, Alexey Guznov.

    “We are opposed to the fact that there are institutions that organize the release of cryptocurrency and facilitate its circulation,” Guznov continued, saying the bill “directly formulates a ban on the issue, as well as on the organization of circulation of cryptocurrency, and introduces liability for violation of this ban.”

    Russian officials recognize they will not be able to completely stop cryptocurrency transactions, with Guznov saying authorities will not pursue individuals who made their deals in a country where it was legal.

    Either way, however, Russia’s announcement is a big blow to cryptocurrencies around the world.

  • Musk Promises No Starlink Impact on Astronomy

    Musk Promises No Starlink Impact on Astronomy

    Elon Musk has promised that Starlink will have “zero” impact on astronomy amid growing concerns the satellites could impede researchers.

    Starlink is the satellite constellation that Musk’s other company, SpaceX, is sending into orbit. SpaceX is launching batches of dozens of satellites at a time. The company has initial permission to launch 12,000 satellites, with the goal being to eventually launch as many as 42,000 satellites, far more than the 2,000 active satellites currently in orbit. The company’s goal is to use the satellites to provide high-speed internet access to under-served communities around the world.

    Astronomers, however, have raised concerns that having that many satellites in orbit could severely impede research of the cosmos by preventing instruments from getting a clear view of the sky. As Digital Trends points out, this is especially a problem for long-exposure images, where the satellites show up as streaks. There are also concerns they could interfere with the radio waves astronomers rely on.

    According to Forbes, at the 2020 Satellite Conference, Elon Must insisted that Starlink will not cause problems and the company will be aggressive in addressing any issues.

    “I am confident that we will not cause any effect whatsoever in astronomical discoveries,” Musk said. “Zero. That’s my prediction. We’ll take corrective action if it’s above zero.”

    Musk highlighted the company’s work on using a darkening treatment to minimize reflections, and raised the possibility of a “sunshade.”

    “We’re launching a sunshade, changing the color of the satellite… aesthetically this should not be an impact.”

    It remains to be seen if SpaceX can deliver on Musk’s promise, although the future of the company’s planned expansion likely rides on the outcome.